The South Carolina Stingrays blanked the punchless Lynx 4-0 in an afternoon tilt at James Brown Arena. The Lynx, coming off an impressive offensive effort after losing Slattenren and Keller to the AHL, put up 25 shots but Washington Capitals 2006 2nd round rookie prospect netminder Michal Neuvirth slammed the door shut for his first professional shutout. Lighting rookie prospect goaltender Riku Helenius allowed four goals on 26 shots, while Kevin Quick was scoreless on four shots. Forward Chris Lawrence who was reassigned to Augusta from Norfolk by the Lighting earlier in the day, has not yet joined the team.

The Norfolk Admirals have announced that they have sent RW/C Chris Lawrence down to Augusta of the ECHL. Lawrence, who is in his second professional season, has struggled with just 1 assist in 10 games for the Admirals after a strong Traverse City tournament for the Lightning. Lawrence may return to Norfolk after the team's week long road trip through the northeast that begins on Tuesday at Lowell.

Eric Erlendsson of the Tampa Tribune is reporting that the Tampa Bay Lightning have made six training camp cuts following Saturday night's first preseason game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. All six are being sent the Norfolk Admirals training camp and will join the current roster which starts on Monday. The six players include Lightning prospects Blair Jones, Brandon Segal, Chris Lawrence, and Andy Rogers. The remaining two cuts include free agent invitees Jamie Heward and Sean O'Connor.

Heward had previously said that he if he could not make an NHL roster, he would return to Europe instead of playing North American minor league hockey. It is unknown if Heward will report to the Admirals training camp.

Karri Ramo stopped 26 of 30 shots in regulation and overtime before stopping both shooters he faced in the penalty shot session.

This is as significant a win as you can get in the first matchup of preseason in September. The Lightning iced a team that basically represented the bulk of their players ticketed for Norfolk of the AHL while the Pens essentially iced their NHL regulars. This is a Pens team that made it to the Stanley Cup Finals last season and the Lightning prospects and AHL pros gave them all they could handle and more en route to victory. It speaks volumes for the future of this franchise.

The Lightning prospects finished 0-3-1 at the Traverse City prospect tournament after falling in overtime this afternoon to the Columbus Blue Jackets prospects 6-5.

Columbus stormed out to a 3-0 first period lead before the Lightning responded with a goal from Matias Sointu off helpers from Luca Cunti and Mitch Fadden early in the second period. Luciano Aquino also scored a goal from Brady Leavold later in the period, but Columbus also notched a pair of goals of their own in the second stanza.

That set the stage for a furious third period comeback by the Lightning, which included an early goal by tryout Brett Parnham off assists from Cunti and Chris Lawrence. The Lightning then brought the game to even with a pair of power play goals midway through the third period from Aquino, off an assist from Mark Barberio, followed by an unassisted tally by Lawrence less than two minutes later.

Unfortunately, Columbus' Ryan Garlock converted a power play chance early in the extra session to finish off the Lightning's comeback hopes for good. Goaltender Dustin Tokarski fell to 0-2-1 after allowing 6 goals on 26 shots in the game. The Lightning prospects outshot Columbus 39-26 in the loss.

The Lightning fell to 0-3 at the Traverse City tournament this afternoon, dropping the matinee to the Rangers prospects 5-3.

The club fell behind 3-0 in the opening frame before Mitch Fadden scored an unassisted goal late in the second period, but the Rangers responded with two goals early in the Third Period to put the game out of reach for good. Kyle DeCoste scored an unassisted goal and captain Chris Lawrence added a late tally in garbage time from Luciano Aquino to make the final score slightly more respectable.

Goaltender Torrie Jung allowed 5 goals on 30 shots in the game, his first of the tournament. The Lightning outshot the Rangers prospects 37-30 in the losing effort.

TBL.com sat down with the Lightning's Brian Lawton following this week's Prospect Camp to get a feel for which prospects not named Stamkos raised some eyebrows. Getting special props from Lawton were Andy Rogers and Chris Lawrence.

â€œChris Lawrence really surprised us, as did Andy Rogers. They are the perfect example of guys who just needed a fresh start and both responded very well. You can expect to see them in our main camp in Tampa and in exhibition games this year. We expect both of them to take a dramatic upswing in their careers.â€

Lawton also praised new defensive prospect Ty Wishart acquired in the trade with San Jose for Dan Boyle. â€œTyâ€™s been a terrific surprise â€“ heâ€™s got such good size and mobility with strong stick and puck skills. Heâ€™s a lot further along than we thought when we made the trade for him.â€

Bracken Kearns, Jamie Bates, and Brandon Segal were named the game's three stars. Bates, 23, was signed to an ATO contract today out of Quinnipiac University. Bates scored 123 points in his 4 year career at Quinnipiac, including 34 points in 34 games this season.

Dana Tyrell has 3 assists now in his 5 ATO games with the Admirals. Not bad for a 19 year old.

Chris Lawrence's goal was his first since November 30, 2007. The linebackeresque forward now has 1 goal and 6 points in his last 8 games. Lawrence missed a month and a half in January and February with a shoulder injury.

Tonight's win was Norfolk's 26th of the season, two shy of Springfield's total from last season. The win gave the team their 58th and 59th points of the season, which ties the Falcons' point total from last season.